The present invention generally relates to printer cartridge apparatus and methods and more particularly relates to a dye donor ribbon cartridge and method for use in a printer, such that the dye donor ribbon is free of damage caused by handling and so that the dye donor ribbon does not "jam" in the printer.
In a typical thermal resistive printer, a dye donor ribbon containing a repeating series of frames of different color heat transferable dyes (e.g., yellow, cyan and magenta colors) is spooled on a dye donor supply spool. The dye donor ribbon, which is typically formed from a thin and flexible dye carrying substrate, is fed from the supply spool and rewound onto a take-up spool. The donor ribbon moves through a nip defined between a thermal resistive print head and a dye-absorbing dye receiver. The dye receiver is in turn supported by a platen disposed adjacent the print head.
That is, at the beginning of a printing cycle, the print head is lifted away from the platen roller to allow the dye receiver to be transported to and placed upon the platen. The dye receiver transport system may be a set of capstan rollers. The print head engages the dye ribbon and presses the dye ribbon against the dye receiver to form a dye ribbon/dye receiver media sandwich. In this regard, the receiver may be cut sheets of coated paper or transparency and the print head may comprise, for example, a plurality of thermal resistive heating elements. When predetermined ones of the heating elements are energized, the heating elements are heated. In the presence of such heat and pressure, dye from the dye ribbon transfers to the dye receiver. Density of the dye printed on the receiver is a function of the heat energy delivered from the heating elements to the dye ribbon. Such printers offer the advantage of "continuous tone" dye density transfer by varying the heat energy applied to the heating elements, thereby yielding a plurality of variable dye density image pixels onto the receiver.
However, in such printers, only the supply spool without the dye donor cartridge is available to the user of the printer. In such printers, the user mounts the supply spool onto the printer and hand-winds the leading portion of the dye donor ribbon on the take-up spool. Such printers has several disadvantages. For example, the print head could be damaged if the user touches the dye donor ribbon and deposits microscopic skin fragments onto the ribbon. In addition, because the user manually winds the ribbon onto the take-up spool, there is an increased chance that the user may deposit dirt and grease on the ribbon which in turn might damage the print head. Moreover, if the user should touch the ribbon and embed fingerprints on the ribbon, the fingerprints will be visible on the printed image, a highly undesirable result.
In addition, it is desirable to feed the donor ribbon from the supply spool to the take-up spool along a path precisely leading from the supply spool to the take-up spool so that the donor ribbon precisely aligns with the take-up spool without skew or significant wrinkling. Precisely aligning the donor ribbon with the take-up spool allows the take-up spool to take-up the donor ribbon without "jamming" on the take-up spool. Such jamming is undesirable because when the donor ribbon jams on the take-up spool, operation of the printer must be stopped and the jammed donor ribbon cleared before printing can continue.
A ribbon cassette accommodating an inked ribbon is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,587 titled "Ribbon Cassette And Video Printer For Use Therewith" issued Dec. 17, 1996 in the name of Takashi Koike, et al. According to this patent, a cassette has a take-up spool and a supply spool spaced apart from each other. A length of inked ribbon has opposite ends engaged with the supply spool and the take-up spool. However, this patent does not appear to disclose a dye donor ribbon cartridge and method for use in a printer, such that the dye donor ribbon is free of damage caused by handling and so that the dye donor ribbon does not "jam" in the printer.
Therefore, there has been a long-felt need to provide a dye donor ribbon cartridge and method for use in a printer, such that the dye donor ribbon is free of damage caused by handling and so that the dye donor ribbon does not "jam" in the printer.